The halls of Cooke S.T.E.M. Academy Elementary School on 18800 Puritan are filled with things you’d find at any elementary school: colorful artwork, lockers with kids’ names on them, lines of kids headed toward the bathrooms or the library or the gym, the kid who’s a bit late, hustling just this side of a run,…

Soon after Chelsea Neblett, GRDC’s Program Manager and John DeRuiter, an Associate Landscape Architect from Detroit’s General Services Department stepped on to the tennis courts at Stoepel Park this past September, former Grandmont Rosedale resident Dennis Parker joined them asking if they were planning on renovating the courts. When he was told yes, Dennis didn’t…

There’s a lot of buzz lately about small business. Start-ups, entrepreneurs, artisans – how many of them really know how demanding starting one’s own business is, or that they have to stay flexible, that they may have to adjust their original plans? Staying flexible and responsive to customer feedback demands staying alert to how customers…

GRDC welcomes Kenyetta “Kitty” Yarbrough as our Community Security Coordinator Intern. For her year here as an intern, Kitty is focused on coordinating our Community Security initiatives, the Crime Prevention Task Force and the Neighborhood Safety Meetings. While earning her Master’s degree in Social Work from Wayne State University, Kitty also works as a Customer…

Ashley Baker started her University of Michigan undergraduate studies in neuroscience, biology, and chemistry. She was doing well in her classes, but once she took an introduction to urban planning class, she left the hard sciences to focus exclusively on her new field of interest. “It just clicked,” Ashley says of her first experience studying…

Nana Dansoa’s passion for empowering others is contagious. The mission of her business, Dansoa Marketing and Design, is to make all types of business owners, from social workers to chefs, feel that they have the tools and ability to make their business a success. Nana either works directly with business owners to create an effective…

According to its website, Oakland Avenue Urban Farm is “The nation’s first ‘Agri-Cultural’ urban landscape in Detroit’s North End.” This combination of urban agriculture and culture is truly unique. This nearly five acre farm, which is a program of the North End Christian Community Development Corporation, was started in 2008 and is a non-profit, community-based…

About ten years ago Katrina Brown came up with the idea for her store, Everything Detroit. Katrina knew that Detroit had no lack of talented designers, artists, and entrepreneurs, but she also noticed that these small businesspeople “shied away from marketing their businesses because of the expense.” Everything Detroit offers Detroit based entrepreneurs, artists, and…

Earlier this year, the Detroit Planning and Development Department (PDD) hired a consultant to develop “framework plan” for a large area of Northwest Detroit including Grandmont Rosedale, Old Redford and other nearby neighborhoods. The consultants examined a variety of issues such as streetscape design, green storm water infrastructure and mobility. The draft plan envisions a…

Most days you can find Cody Williams hard at work at Always Brewing Detroit, the coffee shop familiar to many people in Grandmont Rosedale at 19180 Grand River. On the second and fourth Thursday of the month from 4 – 8pm though, you’ll see Cody at the Northwest Detroit Farmers’ Market instead, offering up organic,…